International players make themselves at home

The Players Amateur's position on the calendar gives many of the country's top college players a chance to play for a spot in a PGA TOUR event during their off-seasons each summer.

It's also pretty convenient for some of the best amateurs who hail from the Southern Hemisphere.

This year's Players Am includes 13 players from Australia and five from New Zealand. July is a winter month at home for these golfers, so they're spending the season playing tournaments across the United States.

“It's winter back home, so it's unplayable,” said Rory Bourke, a 24-year-old from Melbourne. “We need to go play somewhere, so these events all sort of string into where you can be here for two months. It's perfect, really.”

Bourke is competing in his first Players Amateur, the first of four U.S. events he's playing this summer. He said he played his last tournament in Scotland, then went home for 10 days before flying to South Carolina.

The Porter Cup in Lewiston, N.Y., is up next week, followed by the Western Amateur in Highland Park, Ill., and the United States Amateur in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. Bourke will also attempt to qualify for a Nationwide Tour event while he's in the United States.

Bourke said several of the Australians in the Players Am field will play the Southern Amateur in Arkansas. Some of them are still trying to qualify for the U.S. Amateur.

“We try to get into the biggest tournament of the week,” Bourke said. “I'm enjoying it, having a great time.”

A couple of the international players made themselves at home in the second round, on an otherwise difficult Friday at the South course. Australia's Daniel Nisbet and New Zealand's Ben Campbell were two of three players who shot rounds in the 60s. The other was Stanford senior Andrew Yun.

Jake Higginbottom, an 18-year-old from Charlestown, Australia, is also in his first Players Am. He played in several junior tournaments in the U.S. last summer. He said he may return in 2013, then take a shot at qualifying for the PGA TOUR.

“Hopefully, if everything goes to plan, I might come back here next year, then turn around and go to qualifying school,” Higginbottom said.